Farallon Quintet: Biographies

A native of South Carolina, NATALIE PARKER is currently the Principal Clarinet of the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra. She joined the Ballet Orchestra in January 2012 and received her M.M. degree from Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music the following May. In 2010 she won second prize in the International Clarinet Association’s Young Artist Competition and performed in recital at their annual ClarinetFest. Since arriving in San Francisco, Natalie has played frequently with the San Francisco Symphony as well as with several regional orchestras and enjoys performing chamber music throughout the Bay Area.

 DAN FLANAGAN currently serves as Concertmaster of the Sacramento Philharmonic and Opera, the Modesto Symphony, Lecturer of Violin at U.C. Davis, and Instructor of Violin at U.C. Berkeley. Described as a “stellar musician” (Nevada Reviews), he has been praised for his “exquisite tone” and “forthright brio” (Sacramento Bee). A dedicated orchestral player, he has performed as concertmaster with the Oakland East Bay Symphony, the California Symphony, California Musical Theater, the Festival Opera of Walnut Creek, and Symphony Silicon Valley. Dan has played as soloist and chamber musician with many orchestras and ensembles. Born in New Jersey and trained in New York and Michigan, he holds a B.M. from the Cleveland Institute of Music and M.M. from the University of Oregon, where he was a graduate teaching fellow.

 Violinist and San Jose native MATTHEW OSHIDA has performed with orchestras throughout the country including the San Jose Symphony, Utah Symphony, Huntsville Symphony, Sarasota Opera, and Tulsa Symphony, Opera, and Ballet. He has appeared in principal positions with the orchestras in Berkeley, Fremont, Sacramento, San Jose, and Modesto, recorded with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, and accompanied such popular artists as Sarah Brightman, Michael Bolton, Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Mannheim Steamroller, and Harry Connick, Jr. As a chamber musician, he studied with members of the Cleveland and Juilliard Quartets, performed with members of the Emerson Quartet, and participated in live broadcasts for BBC Radio 3. He received a B.M. from Indiana University and M.M. from SUNY Stony Brook.

 An active Bay Area violist, ELIZABETH PRIOR is Principal Violist with the Santa Rosa Symphony and is a season substitute with the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra. She is also associate principal with the Marin Symphony and performs regularly with the San Francisco Opera Orchestra, the New Century Chamber Orchestra, and the San Francisco Symphony. A native of South Africa, she was a prizewinner in the International String Competition in Pretoria and gave her debut at Carnegie Hall with the Russian Chamber Orchestra. She tours regularly as a soloist with the Chamber Ensemble of Cologne in France and has done two recent tours with the New Century Chamber Orchestra.

 Cellist JONAH KIM made his solo debut with Wolfgang Sawallisch and the Philadelphia Orchestra in 2003. The same year, he also appeared with the National Symphony Orchestra in DC where the Washington Post called him simply, “the next Yo-Yo Ma.” He graduated from the prestigious Curtis Institute in the spring of 2006 while only 17 years old, and has soloed with the Philadelphia Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra, New Philharmonia, Symphony of the Americas, Orquestra Sinfônica Nacional and many others. Mr. Kim’s recitals at venues like the Kimmel Center, Kravis Center, Kennedy Center, the Phillips Collections and the Arsht Center have been streamed live and re-aired on podcasts, radio and TV programs for WETA, WHYY, WITF, MPBN, WXEL, NPR, NBC, CBS and PBS. Currently he is Associate Principal Cello of the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra, of which he is also the youngest member.

 Educated in Eastern and Western Europe, as well as the United States, Bulgarian violinist EMANUELA NIKIFOROVA has performed professionally as a soloist, chamber musician and orchestra member since age 13. Emanuela has performed as a soloist at the International Menuhin Music Festival in Gstaad, Switzerland, Festival Lysy in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and as a member of the Nikiforova-Pilibossian duo at Sofia and Varna Summer Festivals. She has recorded as a soloist for Bulgarian Radio and TV, as a member of Camerata Bariloche, and as Principal Second Violin of Camerata Lysy for Revista Classica and Claves. Currently, she is a freelance musician in the Bay Area and Artistic Co-director of The Annual May Celebration of Bulgarian Arts & Culture in San Francisco.